Chapter 739: If It's Not Us, and It's Not You, Then...

TL: FoodieMonster007

The carriage squeezed down a narrow road, lush grass blades rustling against its wooden frame, yet Geom Mugeuk drove with confidence that suggested he knew exactly where he was going.

Tae Su glanced at Geom Mugeuk beside him. What if this is a dead end? We won't be able to turn the carriage around. What if we run into another carriage? Ah, on second thought, that's unlikely. No one else is mad enough to drive a carriage down a forest path this narrow.

Inside the carriage, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon watched grass brush past the window. Is he taking a shortcut? Otherwise, there's no reason to choose such a narrow path. He said we'd go slowly, so what's the rush?

He glanced at the Flower Sword Supreme. She sat with eyes closed, circulating her energy. She had always looked young, but the Heavenly Peach and Immortal Stalactite Moss had given her skin a radiant glow.

She suddenly opened her eyes. "I hear water."

Indeed, the distant sound of rushing water reached them from outside.

Wait, is Geom Mugeuk planning to cross a river with a carriage?

The sound grew steadily louder, until the carriage broke free from the forest path, and a magnificent vista unfolded before them.

KWAAAAA!

The powerful roar of water echoed through the valley.

Geom Mugeuk brought the carriage to a halt. "You two, please get out for a moment."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Flower Sword Supreme stepped onto the grass. A grand waterfall dominated the view, so breathtaking it stole the air from their lungs. White water plunged down a sheer cliff, shattering against rocks below and sending fine spray into the air. Mist caught the sunlight, painting a rainbow across the scene and lending it the feel of a celestial paradise where immortals might dwell.

The four of them gazed at the waterfall in silence. Tranquility washed over them from its sheer grandeur. They could have stood there all day.

"How did you know about a place like this?" the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked. His admiration was plain.

Geom Mugeuk proudly took credit, as if he'd been waiting for the question. "I did a little research beforehand, just to show you, Elder."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was bewildered. How is that possible? Until yesterday, we didn't even know we were going to Zhejiang. Besides, this waterfall is in a truly remote location. For the Young Cult Leader to take us this deep into the woods, he must have been here before.

"Later, if we go back out that way," Geom Mugeuk added, looking at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, "there's a roadside restaurant that makes amazing beef noodles. Let's eat there before we go. You like beef noodles, don't you?"

"I see your taste in food hasn't changed," the Flower Sword Supreme chimed in.

"Did he like beef noodles when he was younger too?"

"He liked them so much he ate them every day."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon waved his hand dismissively. "You remember all sorts of things. I didn't like it that much."

Still, he was secretly pleased she remembered those times.

"Shall we get going?"

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt grateful toward Geom Mugeuk. This young man hadn't come here because he wanted to see a waterfall. He'd rushed down that narrow path just to show it to him and the Flower Sword Supreme.

"That was a real feast for the eyes," he said in gratitude.

The carriage started moving again. Instead of turning back, Geom Mugeuk found another path leading out. After a short drive along the narrow road, they emerged onto the main road.

"How do you know the roads so well?"

"Well, I know them because I've traveled them a lot."

Considering Geom Mugeuk's youth, Tae Su found that hard to understand. Does his family run an escort agency? Is that why he's traveled all over the Central Plains despite his age?

It seemed plausible. Just as Tae Su reached this conclusion, recalling the escort agencies he knew, Geom Mugeuk suddenly yanked him hard to the side.

SWISH! SLAM!

A throwing knife whizzed past where Tae Su's face had been a heartbeat before and slammed into the carriage frame. His eyes widened in shock at the sudden ambush.

"Take the reins!" Geom Mugeuk shouted, thrusting them into Tae Su's hands.

The moment he did, a deadly volley rained down.

SHWIK SHWIK SHWIK SHWIK SHWIK SHWIK!

Hidden weapons flew from all directions, aimed at the horses. Geom Mugeuk leaped into action.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Tae Su was once again astonished by Geom Mugeuk's lightning-fast movements. After deflecting weapons from the left, he was already parrying the ones from the right. The deflected blades flew precisely back toward their throwers. Screams erupted from the woods on both sides of the road.

His jaw dropped in disbelief. Geom Mugeuk was so fast, it was as if twins were deflecting weapons from both sides at once. No, triplets, because in the next instant, Geom Mugeuk was suddenly sitting beside him again, grabbing the reins.

"Hold on tight!" he shouted, yanking the reins sharply. The carriage swerved.

PAK PAK PAK PAK PAK!

The hidden weapons that would have riddled the carriage missed, striking the ground instead. He dodged the next volley by slowing the horses abruptly.

Tae Su was certain now. To drive a carriage this well, he's definitely from an escort agency! He must have learned the roads of the Central Plains since childhood.

Something ahead caught his eye. "There! Look over there!"

A massive tree had fallen across the road, deliberately knocked down to block their path. It wasn't just a log but a huge, thick trunk, making it impossible to simply pass over.

"Hold on tight!"

In a situation where any sane driver would stop, Geom Mugeuk sped up.

He's going to charge? Don't tell me he's going to jump it?

"Stop! No! This isn't a horse, it's a carriage!" Tae Su yelled, but Geom Mugeuk charged forward like a madman.

"Here we go!"

"Aaaaaaaah!" Tae Su let out a scream as the horses reached the tree. He thought they were about to crash, but in that instant, the horses leaped, soaring into the air and taking the carriage with them.

It's jumping over this? A whole carriage!

For a moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion, as if in a dream.

THUD!

The carriage landed smoothly on the other side of the fallen tree and began speeding away again.

When Tae Su finally dared to look back, he saw masked figures emerging from the woods. They were staring after the carriage with the same shocked expressions he imagined he wore. "How did the carriage jump over that?"

"This carriage is carrying my wings!" Geom Mugeuk replied. In truth, however, he had used telekinesis to lift the horses and carriage clean into the air and carry them over the obstacle.

Earlier, Tae Su had asked who the two masters in the carriage were, and Geom Mugeuk had called them his wings.

Did they do it? Is something like this even possible even if they're masters?

A moment ago, as the carriage had flown up, the one Geom Mugeuk called his left wing inside had looked out the window. "We're really flying," she remarked.

The right wing laughed. "Who else but the Young Cult Leader would even think of something like this?"

Using telekinesis to lift a moving carriage to avoid an obstacle was something even they couldn't do. Even if they had the ability, they never would have thought to jump over it. Their first instinct would have been to stop the carriage and kill all the pursuers.

"Thanks to you, I even get to fly in a carriage," the Flower Sword Supreme remarked excitedly.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon also smiled. Truly, there was never a dull moment on this vacation.

Meanwhile, unlike the two calm individuals, Tae Su was in the middle of a life-or-death adventure. He looked back again and shouted, "There! Those guys are chasing us."

Behind them, about twenty masked figures were pursuing the carriage using swift movement arts.

"Here, take the reins again." Geom Mugeuk stood up from the driver's seat, opened the door of the moving carriage, and slipped inside. He smiled at the two Demon Supremes, then opened his leather pouch and started searching. "Carriage chases are common when you're out in the Central Plains, aren't they?"

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon peered into the pouch and frowned. "Why is there so much distracting junk in here?"

"It might look like that, but it's really inconvenient when you don't have it. Ah, here it is." Geom Mugeuk took out a leather belt studded with about twenty throwing knives. "Since I've decided not to draw my sword, I'll make do with these."

"That's the same thing," the Blood Heaven Blade Demon grumbled.

As he said, a knife thrown by Geom Mugeuk could hardly be called an ordinary weapon.

Geom Mugeuk fastened the belt around his body and climbed onto the carriage roof. By that time, the masked figures had nearly caught up. He pulled out a throwing knife and threw it at the closest pursuer.

"……" The masked man flipped over and collapsed as the knife cut through the air. When it had been flying toward him, he'd thought he could easily dodge it, but he'd failed.

One man fell, but the others kept chasing.

SHWIK! SHWIK!

This time, Geom Mugeuk threw two throwing knives. It wasn't a lightning-fast attack like before, and the blades moved at a speed that seemed easy enough to avoid.

However, their targets couldn't dodge this time either. The seemingly ordinary knives changed speed and direction at the last moment. One man who tried to block with his sword failed, and another who tried to twist his body away failed as well.

Even though three had fallen now, the rest still charged forward.

As if to make a point, Geom Mugeuk took out three throwing knives this time. He deliberately held them out for all to see. Three this time!

One of the masked figures at the back raised his hand, and the pursuers stopped all at once. The man in the back, clearly the leader, had not only realized that three more of his subordinates would die without fail, but had also grasped from Geom Mugeuk's skill with the throwing knives alone that they were hopelessly outmatched.

Geom Mugeuk's eyes met the man's. The eyes above the mask were calm. This was an opponent who knew when to give up.

The leader turned around and left with the other masked figures.

Geom Mugeuk returned to the driver's seat. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you for saving me." Tae Su bowed his head gratefully. If Geom Mugeuk hadn't pulled him aside, that first throwing knife would have killed him. "Where are we going now?"

He thought they would surely come up with some countermeasure now that they had pursuers. Were they going abandon the carriage and travel by movement arts?

The person holding the reins, however, was Geom Mugeuk.

"We're going to eat beef noodles!"

An hour later, the four of them were indeed eating beef noodles.

"This tastes good," the Blood Heaven Blade Demon said with satisfaction. It was truly worth making a special trip for. The dumplings they'd ordered alongside were also fantastic.

Even the Flower Sword Supreme, who didn't usually like beef noodles, finished her entire bowl. "That was delicious."

"I'm glad it suited your palate," Geom Mugeuk said. "Please look forward to the next one."

This meant the next famous restaurant they visited would be one that had food she liked.

"Do you know what food I like?"

"I know that whenever you go to the Central Plains, you'll order pork in five-spice sauce. I know a place that makes it exceptionally well."

The Flower Sword Supreme regarded Geom Mugeuk with gentle eyes. He was a man who had generously shared precious miracle herbs and was now trying to treat her to her favorite food. "Thanks to you bringing me out here, both my eyes and mouth are feasting."

Geom Mugeuk bestowed things that ordinary people could never dream of imitating, and yet he was the one saying thank you. Truly, he was the kind of person who carved what he received in stone and wrote what he gave in water. How could one not become such a person's wing?

I will gladly be your wing.

Just then, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon interjected, "Why are you buying her pork in five-spice sauce while I get beef noodles? I like plenty of expensive dishes too."

Geom Mugeuk and the Flower Sword Supreme laughed together.

Unaware of their relationship, Tae Su laughed along awkwardly. Inwardly, though, he was anxious.

I know they're all masters, but… should they really be this relaxed? What if those masked figures brought back other masters?

Fortunately, Geom Mugeuk soon turned the conversation back to the attack. "Judging by the movements of the attackers from before, they were well-trained."

They weren't hired martial artists or outcasts, but members of a single organization.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon immediately suspected the Flying Dragon Gang. "Didn't the Flying Dragon Gang leak our information? Or maybe it's them."

It was a reasonable suspicion. The Flying Dragon Gang were the last people they'd met, and the Flying Dragon Boss might have gotten greedy despite Jong Baek's attempts to dissuade him.

Geom Mugeuk thought of Jong Baek and how he'd acted when they parted. Somehow, he felt that Jong Baek would have kept his promise one way or another. "It's probably not the Flying Dragon Gang. Assuming it's not them, there are two possibilities. Either they were after us…" His gaze turned to Tae Su. "…Or they were after Tae Su."

Naturally, it was highly likely they were after Tae Su, who had the treasure map. After all, if the pursuers knew the trio's true identities, they wouldn't have attacked so recklessly.

The gazes of the three masters focused on Tae Su, and he tensed up.

Geom Mugeuk asked, "Besides us, does anyone else know you have the treasure map?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone," Tae Su denied, shaking his head firmly.

"Then maybe they're trying to kill you for some other grudge, not because of the map."

"As you already know, my father and I have only ever stolen from villains, so while our names are known, very few people know our faces."

This was the reason why he'd been so surprised when Geom Mugeuk showed him the wanted poster with his likeness.

"So it's not us, and it's not you?"

Geom Mugeuk frowned. Then how did they find us?

He hadn't shown it openly, but he'd been careful about being followed. He'd switched between main roads and side roads, even using the Divine Eye Technique intermittently to check their trail. On top of that, he'd taken a detour to the waterfall. He was certain no one was following them when he checked then.

He stared silently at Tae Su, when a look of sudden realization crossed his face.

"If it's not us, and it's not you, then there's only one thing left." Rummaging, through his leather pouch, he took out a small vial. "Come closer, Tae Su."

Tae Su approached with a nervous expression.

"Hold out your hand!"

"What's this?"

"It's a medicine that'll give us the answer."

"Is it a truth serum? It's not like my hand has a mouth, though."

DRIP!

Geom Mugeuk poured the liquid from the vial onto Tae Su's palm, and it instantly turned blue. "See? This is how your hand answers!"

"What did you do?"

"You have Soul Tracking Incense on your hand."

Tae Su shook his head in confusion. "I've never been marked with Soul Tracking Incense before."

Geom Mugeuk hadn't checked because he assumed Tae Su himself had been marked. However, if it wasn't them, and it wasn't him, then…

"It must have been on the treasure map."

Someone must have applied it in case they lost it.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Flower Sword Supreme exchanged surprised glances. No matter how experienced they were, they wouldn't have thought to check for that.

"Can't you get rid of the Soul Tracking Incense?"

"Of course I can."

"Please get rid of it!"

Geom Mugeuk moved to draw his sword.

Tae Su immediately yelped and pulled his hand back. The gesture meant there was no way to remove it without cutting off his hand.

Geom Mugeuk explained, "This is Soul Tracking Incense, which is much more effective than the regular kind of tracking incense. It's impossible to get rid of until a certain amount of time passes and the scent disappears on its own. It's so expensive that not just anyone can use it."

Besides, those pursuers weren't ordinary martial artists. For such skilled fighters to be chasing someone using Soul Tracking Incense… what can that mean?

"You," Geom Mugeuk said seriously. "Who did you steal that treasure map from?"